St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 9a, Thou shalt not commit Adultery.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 8. 

From the beginning it was given to Moses and the Jews, handed down from God: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."  Two persons, male or female, either one, bonded in marriage, shall not have intercourse outside of their marriage with another partner.  This was the law, handed down to the Jews from ancient times.  Yet Moses allowed them to put away their wives or husbands by written notice for any cause.  This was allowed because of the hardness of their hearts, because of the determination in their minds, because of the passion of their desires.

The practice still continues today, the putting away of the wives or husbands by written consent.  Christ had something different to say to his disciples about this practice. He wanted them to know the truth of this practice.  He wanted them to understand that even though Moses allowed it to happen, it was not permitted.  For God created them male and female that they would bond together for a purpose, for a cause.  He told them:  "And I say to you, that whoever puts away his wife, except for immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."

Thou shalt not commit adultery.  Why was it written?  Why was it given to us?  Why do we need to obey this law?  Does it apply to us, today?  These are some of the questions that we may ask ourselves about this commandment.  God, our father, gave us guidelines to follow.  He gave to man helpful instructions that would help to keep us from sin.  For he is not demanding.  He is not overbearing.  He is not standing ready to exact punishment at our every infraction.  God, our father, is a loving God and he wants that we do not cause ourselves harm.  He wants the same thing that we want for our own children, to warn them, that they do not cause themselves harm through the dangers of life.  He wants to give us knowledge, the same way we want to give our own children our knowledge of life that they may avoid the pain and suffering we experienced in life.

Yet we live in a world that downplays the spiritual dangers to ourselves and our children.  We exist in a world that does not want us to know of the those dangers, a world that encourages us to practice the same things that would cause us spiritual harm.  We are lulled to sleep about immorality, lust, deceit, anger, greed, and all the things in this world that would destroy our spiritual truths.  For we are spiritual beings living in a physical body.  And it is that spirit within us that is the prize of the world.  We sleep walk through life not knowing the truth of who we are.  We seek the trinkets that life offers in exchange for the most valuable prize of all, our spiritual soul.

Be not immoral.  Seek the repentance that Christ has given to us and come to know the truth of who you are in him.  Refrain from the world and seek the protection and provision that your heavenly father will provide.  For he is the creator of the universe and all that exists.  If he has done these things then surely he can provide for and protect us.  Practice the perfect patience spoken of by the apostles that you may know and see the miracles that your father will create in your life.  For he loves you more than you know.  He wants to provide for you more than you know.  He has a purpose for you.  And when you see what he offers, and know what he gives, you will understand that there is nothing on this earth that can compare with what your father has in store for you. 

Christ came that you would have life.  Christ gave of himself that you would have the freedom of choice.  Christ arose from death that you will know he lives and that he sits at the right hand of God.  Christ awaits you to receive him into your life, for the choice is yours.  Christ loves you and wants to demonstrate to you the passion of his love that you may see the truth of who you are in him.  We were created in his image and likeness.  Come and see the truth of who you are.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 8b, From the Beginning.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 7

From the beginning he created them male and female.  He created them for a purpose.  He created them with a plan.  He created them to grow, multiply, and to be fruitful.  But evil had a plan and evil did not want them to be fruitful for his plan but to be fruitful for evil.  For evil was deceitful.  Evil was cunning.  Evil was treacherous.  And evil wanted to stop the plan of the Creator.

So he created them male and female and evil knew of their weakness.  Evil wanted to exploit.  Evil wanted to separate and divide.  Evil wanted to rule even if it was from hell.  But God created them out of love.  God created them out of compassion.  God created them that they would know his love for them, that they should exist.  And he created them that they should be male and female to multiply and be fruitful.  And evil came in and hardened their hearts.  Evil came in and showed them that they should be separate.  Evil came in and divided them that they would not know the truth of who they are.  But it was not so from the beginning.  And this is what Christ told his disciples and the Pharisees that tested him: "But it was not so from the beginning. "

Today marriage is a joyous occasion.  We come together.  We love.  We laugh.  We are filled with happiness from the beginning.  But then time passes.  We open our eyes to see the other person that we are committed to and we open our eyes to the world.  We compare.  We see, we feel, we long, we desire that which is not within our reach, and we regret.  And it is in that regret that doubt comes in.  It is in that regret that passions are kindled.  It is in that regret that temptation follows, prodding us on, away from the commitment that we made to be one flesh. 

For we are raised in the world.  We breathe, eat, sleep, and become what is in the world.  And even with the strongest of foundations, we may find ourselves drawn into the temptations that the world has to offer.  What stops us?  What keeps us from temptation?  What pulls us back from the brink?  It is that deep sense of inner peace that comes with love.  It is that knowing that we have gone astray from what we believe is right and the wrong that we have done.  Is this enough to keep us?  Is this enough to commit us to a way of life that was given us from the beginning?  With all the things in the world that would pull us, all the things that would divide us,  all the things in the world that will take us away from that joyous commitment that we made, what can keeps us together?

We are male and female, given a purpose here on earth, here in the world.  Christ has told us that in heaven we are not given in marriage but are like angels.  Is this something that we can hold onto?  Is this something that we can believe in?  Is this something that can give each of us, both male and female, the foundation to overcome the trials and tribulations we face in the world that would separate us?  We were created male and female.  Yet we were created in his image and likeness.  We were created as spiritual beings.  We are spiritual beings living in a physical world.  Is this the truth or are we just physical beings seeking to know the truth of who we are in Christ?

Christ gave us new life.  He paid the penalty for our transgressions.  He came.  He preached.  He died.  He arose again and ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father.  He gave us something to believe in; he gave us something to be, to seek, to know.  And yet within the knowledge that he has given us, we know not.  For the Holy Spirit comes to those who seek him.  The Holy Spirit comes to those who want him.  The Holy Spirit comes to those who desire him.  And with his coming, into those who are male or female, eyes are opened.  With his coming, hearts are filled.  With his coming joy is given.  And with his coming the light of life comes to those who would know.  Do you know his plan?  Do you know his purpose?  Do you know, you?

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthews, Chapter 19, verse: 8, The Hardness of hearts.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 6. 

From the beginning he created them male and female.  For this cause they will leave their parents and cleave to one another to become not two flesh but one.  This was God's purpose from the beginning, that they would come together for his purpose.  But man has created his own purpose.  Man changed God's purpose so that he could make it according to his own thinking.  And now we have divorce.  Now we have separation.  Now we have strife, anger, frustration, hatred, fear, doubt, and destruction.  Today we have destruction of God's plan that will brings peace and harmony, and love into the male and female relationship.

Where did it all begin?  God gave us bonding.  He gave us relationships.  He gave us the togetherness that comes with one flesh.  Yet we have separation.  Where did it all begin?  It began in the desert.  It began with the freedom of the captives from Egypt.  For they were in captivity for four hundred years.  They were under the Egyptian rule.  They were under the customs and habits of another culture and they adopted that culture and those rules as their own.  And they became hardened according to what they had known for four hundred years.  And Christ told them that it all began with their hardened hearts.  He said to them, "Because Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives."

Their hearts were hardened.  Their minds were set.  They were determined to separate, to divorce, to do other than what was God's plan.  So Moses permitted it.  Moses allowed them to put away their wives.  Moses saw that they were determined.  Moses saw what they would do.  Moses knew in his heart that freedom from the Egyptians was not freedom but continued bondage to the culture and ways of their captures.  And if this continued that their freedom would only lead to death and destruction.  For this was the way of the Egyptians.  This was how they dealt with their wives.  This was their separation and their culture.  And that same culture had been accepted by the Jews, freed from captivity.

So Moses sought a solution.  Moses did not want destruction.  Moses did not want his people to follow the same path.  He sought to change them.  He sought to move them in a different direction.  Moses sought to bring his people back to the Father who had freed them.  But they were determined.  They wanted to stay with what they knew.  They did not want to change.  And now today down through history we have the same.  We separate.  We divorce.  We ignore the will of God our Father who made us male and female, who made us that we would be one flesh for a purpose, for a cause. 

Father, forgive us.  Father, have mercy on us.  Father, help us to understand your purpose, your plan for us, male and female.  Help us to know you.  Help us to see you.  Help us to come to know the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus, our savior.  For he came that we would have life.  He came that we would no longer live in darkness.  He came that we would live abundantly in faith, and hope and peace and love.  Help us to understand the truth of who we are in you.  For with this knowledge we are able to see your purpose.  With this knowledge we are able to see ourselves as you created us, not as flesh and bones, but as spirits created in your likeness.  And with this knowledge we will understand the purpose with which you have given us to be male and female.  Thank you for your mercy, Father.  Thank you for your patience, Father.  And thank you most of all for your love. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 7, Moses written notice.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 5. 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  You gave us life.  You give us joy.  You give us happiness.  And yet we are today without understanding of your will for us.  For you created us male and female.  You created us two flesh to become one.  You gave us our purpose.  You gave us our plan.  You gave us the world we live in to multiply and prosper.  And yet today we do not know you.  Today we do not obey your commands.  Today we live according to our own will.

For we were lost.  We were deceived.  We were dead, without your spirit.  And Christ.  He came to take back what was lost.  He came to pay the price.  He came that we would have life and have it more abundantly.  The choice is ours.  Do we live with you, according to the laws that you have given us, or do we live according to the dictates of the world.  Christ gave us your command: "What God has joined together let no man put asunder."  And yet we do.  How have we come to changing your laws.  They said to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a written notice of dismissal, and to put her away?"

Why did Moses allow for dismissal of a wife?  Why was the practice of separation begun?  Why was it necessary to have a divorce?  God our Father put them together from the beginning.  God our Father gave them a purpose?  God our Father created them male and female so that they would come together for a cause.  And it was God our Father who gave them life that they may prosper.  Yet man has changed the rules of God.  Man has decided that it is better that they are separate.  Man has willed that they may divorce and remarry.  And thus we have man's plan in today's world.

The plan was changed and the purpose discarded.  And now we divorce, we separate, we remarry as many times as we see fit.  For the structure of the original plan has been changed.  Can we not accept the original plan?  Can we not abide by the original plan?  Are we not God's children living according to his will?  Do we not start with his understanding, his plan, his purpose?  Do we not accept that we are put together for a purpose?  Do we not believe that he knows what is best for us?  It is up to us male and female to come together with the knowledge and the will to live according to his plan and his purpose and not according to the will of the world. 

If we are Christians and live according to the life that is given us through Christ then we should know the truth of who we are.  We should accept the will of our Father when we make the commitment to live according to his purpose.  Yet the tricks and traps of the world weigh upon us, both male and female.  The wants and desires of the world lead us in a direction away from the knowledge of our protector.  The passions of the life we live and the life we experience, on a daily basis, wear upon our conscience like water wearing upon rock, eroding away at our ability to follow the will of our father.  Yet it is only with the truth of who we are and the consolation of the Holy Spirit that we find a stronghold away from the constant battering of the world we live in. 

Come!  Let us retire from the storm of the outside world.  Let us live according to the will of our Father.  Let us know the truth of who we are in Christ and thereby secure the protection of the Holy Spirit that will guide us through the darkness.  Christ is the light in the darkness.  He is the beacon to follow.  He gives us the strength to weather the storm of the world.  Stay strong.  Stay true to who you are in him.  Seek the solitude of his protection and you will know the peace and joy of his love.  For he is our fulfillment.  He is our purpose.  He is our love and our happiness.  For there is nothing in the world that can compare to what our father has prepared for us in heaven.  And it is our decision to turn from the ways of the world and turn our hearts to him who made us and sustains us.  For to know him is to love him and to love him is to be with him. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.